Chair of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs Committee Alfredo Femat Bañuelos (right, second row) at a ceremony to debut the Mexico-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Group (Photo: Vietnam News Agency).

The two governments recently decided to step up measures to improve the bilateral cooperation framework towards a comprehensive partnership for the interests of the two countries as well as for the sake of peace and stability in the region.

In terms of diplomatic and political ties, over the last 45 years, Vietnam and Mexico have been maintaining a good traditional friendship and cooperation, and sharing similarities in domestic and foreign policy due to the same development goals, and similar geostrategic positions.

The two sides also regularly support each other at important multilateral and international forums such as the United Nations and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Mexico is now Vietnam’s third largest trade partner in Latin America, while Vietnam is Mexico’s eighth largest import-export market in Asia-Pacific.

Two-way trade has grown 10-15 percent annually over the last decade and surpassed 6 billion USD in 2019.

In particular, the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) opened up a new horizon for the business communities of Vietnam and Mexico.

The agreement is expected to further promote bilateral trade and investment relations to be commensurate with the potential of two markets that cover more than 220 million consumers, or 45 percent of the total population and 15 percent of the GDP of this new free trade bloc.

Mexico mainly imports mobile phones, electronic devices and sports shoes from Vietnam, while it exports automobiles, leather and shoes and cotton to the Southeast Asian nation.

The two sides have also seen the increasing number of tourists visiting each other’s markets.

According to Alfredo Femat Bañuelos, Chair of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs Committee, the two countries are working to build an important coalition on issues of common concern, such as disarmament, climate change adaptation, poverty reduction, education, and science and technology.

Bañuelos, who is also chairman of the Mexico-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Group (MVFPG), affirmed that in the field of parliamentary diplomacy, Mexico considers the establishment of the group one of its priorities.

In 2020, the year marks the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs Committee and the MVFPG have planned to organize cultural events in order to further the bilateral relations and friendship.

Mexican Ambassador to Vietnam Sara Valdés Bolaño (Photo:  Vietnam News Agency)

Mexican Ambassador to Vietnam Sara Valdés Bolaño said Vietnam opened its embassy in Mexico in 1975 and the following year the Mexican Embassy was opened in Hanoi.

During the early years in bilateral relations, Mexico joined Vietnam’s efforts in national reconstruction through cooperation in many areas such as maize variety research and development, training for Vietnam in oil and gas technology, and agriculture, she said.

A bilateral political consultation mechanism was established in 2002, enabling the two sides to identify priorities and directions in bilateral relations, she added. The latest meeting of the mechanism, the fifth one, was held in September 2019.

Bolaño also emphasised that the governments of the two countries always support each other's initiatives.

Most recently, Vietnam co-sponsored Mexico’s resolution on “international cooperation to ensure global access to medicines, vaccines and medical equipment to face COVID-19" at the UN General Assembly./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency